What happens when an organization loses knowledge accumulated over decades? In the case of a company responsible for ensuring the population’s water supply, the issue can have very concrete consequences. It was from this challenge that Águas de Portugal brought to the debate the topic “Knowledge Does Not Retire – AI, Human Resilience in the ADP Group.”
Fátima Borges, Director of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at ADP, began by noting that social responsibility is inherent in the very nature of the group’s activity. “What we effectively do is provide water to all people in Portugal. Is there a greater gesture in Social Responsibility than this? Certainly not,” she stated.
But ensuring this service requires more than infrastructure prepared to resist climate change. It also requires that the experience of professionals not be lost when they leave the organizations. This is where the bet on human resilience enters, alongside technological and operational innovation.
Tiago Ferrão, Director of Innovation at ADP Valor, drew attention to the effects that the loss of knowledge can have on the functioning of services. Just as water is lost in pipes, knowledge can also disappear, with consequences for efficiency and the teams’ ability to respond. “That will make those water outages at three in the morning more frequent,” he observed.
To counteract this risk, ADP works with universities, research centers, startups and other partners, while promoting the modernization of facilities. There is also a proactive innovation strand, aimed at anticipating needs and preparing today solutions for problems that may arise in the coming years. In this regard, Tiago Ferrão highlighted a tool that is already in its fifth edition and that annually provides one million euros to support innovation projects.
When Sustainability Becomes Business
The link between sustainability and competitiveness was highlighted in the panel moderated by Liliana Silva, Head of Sustainability at Zurich Portugal. It was also present in the conversation Green Savers held on the fringe of the panel with Inês Martins Rodrigues, Director of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs at Ageas Portugal Group. The association between these two dimensions can no longer be ignored in organizational management.
“A sustainable company is one that prepares for internal and external challenges, values its resources, and, ultimately, adds more value for shareholders, but also for the community and other stakeholders,” she said.
Within the Ageas Portugal Group, this vision is translated into a 2030 strategy that aims to contribute to a healthier, more inclusive, and more resilient society. One measure involves strengthening oncology coverages in health insurance, with increased capital available, the inclusion of new providers in the network, and individualized monitoring of customers who receive this diagnosis.
The initiative responds to a reality that has been gaining weight in society and shows how a decision about insurance coverage can have consequences beyond the commercial relationship with the client. “We all win,” she asserts.
Also in Porto, the insurer’s intervention seeks to address concrete needs. The Oriente Gardens project, recognized by APEE, results from a partnership with the Porto City Hall and provides funding for 650 homes for families. The intervention focuses on a distressed area of the city and seeks to link the housing response to social inclusion and urban redevelopment.
Sustainability also involves how companies identify and anticipate the risks to which they are exposed. Fernando Bárrios, Head of Risk Engineering at Zurich Portugal, pointed to three fundamental dimensions in the work carried out with clients: identifying vulnerabilities, raising awareness, and taking action. A company that integrates sustainability into its risk management will be better prepared to ensure business continuity.
Miguel Duarte, Zurich’s Commercial Coordinator, brought to the discussion the involvement of partners in this change of practices. “We have to evangelize; it is our role, so we must repeatedly convey the message to our partners to try to do things differently,” he said.
One example is ADN Week, the insurer’s initiative that this year integrated social responsibility actions into a program usually associated with moments of leisure and sociability. The Centro region, particularly affected by the storms, deserved special attention. “Partners were involved in recovery and improvement work for schools and social organizations, from painting walls to repairing walls and gates.”
For the executive, these actions help create a closer relationship with the territories where the company operates. “It is important to leave a mark in the community in which we are integrated,” he stressed, advocating for actions oriented toward the common good and greater partner involvement in community life.
Inclusion Is Also Built Within Companies
The professional integration of neurodivergent youth was another case presented as part of Zurich’s intervention, through the partnership with the organization Vencer Autismo. The Vencer Emprego by Vencer Autismo program aims to bring these young people closer to the job market through training, vocational education, and mentoring.
Diogo Cruz, general coordinator of the program, explained that the objective is to create conditions for these youths’ skills to be recognized and utilized by companies, opening employment opportunities that remain difficult to reach.
“Inclusion cannot be seen as a social opportunity, but as an opportunity for companies to have more resilient people,” he stated.
A Commitment Involving All Stakeholders
The Week of Corporate Social Responsibility, of the Portuguese Association of Business Ethics, ended with a call for closer coordination among companies, public institutions, academia, partners, and civil society. The aggregation of different stakeholders was one of the ideas present in the debates, in a gathering that sought to relate the competitiveness of the economy with the ability to respond to social and environmental challenges, with a view to achieving the 2030 targets.
